Tearing the Wings Off Butterflies
by angeliza8i8
Summary: How I believe Lord of the Flies would have been different if there was a girl on the island. Originally done for a school project, it has lots of foreshadowing and stuff. It's my second story on this site, so please enjoy!


Aliza Forrest

_**Tearing the Wings off Butterflies**_

(In the First Chapter, Piggy's taking the names of the lil'uns, and Simon, Jack, and Ralph are climbing the mountain.)

Sunlight rolled over pink stone, reflecting into clear blue waters and making the creamy white sand hot underfoot. The hot beach was empty, save for a figure distorted by waves of heat bending over a tide pool. If one stepped closer, you'd see a young girl of only about ten years old in her undergarments scrubbing at a large piece of dirty clothes embroidered with the symbol of some unknown elementary school. Coppery curls braided into twin plates fall down her back. The girl scrubbed until her knuckles were white and her poor little soft hands cramped up before setting the clothes beside her.

"This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. How on earth can mud possibly stick so well? I just can't seem to get it out! Mother will be ferocious…"

The girl paled at the thought of her possible punishment, before remembering her current predicament.

"Well, that's just it, isn't it? I shan't get in trouble for it, so why do I keep scrubbing this ol' thing anyway? I mean, there are much more important things to worry about."

The girl picked up the clothes, and made to throw them, before once again viewing the mud. That sticky mud infuriated her. Out of habit she dipped the clothes back into the tide pool and scrubbed some more. Suddenly, a long, low noise swept over the beach, startling the girl, and causing her to drop the garment into the tide pool, dirtying it even more. But the girl's attention was elsewhere. She stood and walked timidly; curious, but cautious about the source of the sound. Who knew what strange sort of beasties lived on such an island, anyway? Just the mud by itself was an utter horror, after all.

But curiosity overcame caution, and the timid walk soon broke into a hurried run. Her little white under-dress billowed about her. She stopped only after reaching a small platform of pink rock, putting a hand upon it as she panted to catch her breath. It was a long run, and it came as a shock to her that simple curiosity could motivate her to run that fast, even if she had run rather slow compared to most. A young lady such as herself was not suited to running.

"Hello, who might you be?"

The girl turned around and noticed for the first time that she was not the only one near the platform. Surrounding it were many boys varying in height and thickness. Among them was the one who had addressed her. A chubby boy with spectacles who, thinking she had not heard him the first time, pushed his spectacles to the bridge of his nose, cleared his throat, and spoke again. "Hello, who might you be?"

"Susie Abilene Smith."

The response was automatic. A habit refined by grownups asking so many times, and instructions from parents on how to be polite.

"Well, Susie, how'd you manage to make it off the plane? The girls were in the front when it…"

The boy's gaze traveled up the rock to a scar through the forest made up of toppled trees going to each side.

"I thought all you girls stayed on…"

Susie played with her hair, deep in thought. She went through the events of the plane crash in her head. It crashed. She was dizzy and afraid. She saw the door smashed open a bit. She crawled through and kept crawling until…another thought popped in her head.

"I'm the only one?" "Well, it seems so. I mean, there are the lil'uns, an me, an Ralph, Jack, Simon, They're on the mountain, an Samneric, an Roger… "…But no girls."

The boy shook his head, "Seems so." Susie unbraided her hair from her twin braids, and fluffed it about, clearly agitated. Who could she possibly have a civil conversation with, when all her friends had floated off to who-knows-where? Boys as a whole were hardly civil. Playing in mud, pulling braids, telling dumb jokes… how on earth would a young lady as herself keep her head without a single other girl to keep her company? Susie pouted, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot a single time on the ground to make her agitation even more clear.

"Humph."

The boy, distressed at her very clear show of extreme agitation, tried to make amends; "Well, I'm sure you won't be lonely with the lil'uns' to take care of, and if we catch a crab, you'd have to boil it so that we can eat it and…"

Yet another thought popped into Susie's head. This was just like Wendy taking care of the lost boys in "Peter Pan"! That should be simple enough! She simply had to act as her own mother would act, and she'd had much practice with her dolls at home. This was not that much different. Susie uncrossed her arms, smoothed out her hair, and smiled happily. "It's settled then, I shall be their mother." "But…what I meant was…"

Susie brought a finger to her lips to shush him, "Shh! No buts, I am already decided. After all, a mother is needed, and boys are not good at such things." "Well, that's true, but…" "Shh!"

The boy gave up, and finally silenced. Susie glanced around at the boys, who were gathering around to see what was going on. Contemplating her new role, Susie watched each face closely. Many of them had dirty faces, covered in mud, or the juice and seeds of fruit they ate. _Dreadful, positively dreadful, _she thought.The first thing to do would be to wash faces, certainly. However, there were too many boys to wash up herself. She turned again to the chubby boy who was still standing silently beside her.

"What did you say your name was?" "I didn't…" "His name is Piggy!" A lil'un shouted, followed by laughter from the older ones, and many more echoes of, "Yes! Piggy! He's Piggy!" resounding throughout the group.

The boy in question, Piggy, was looking at the toes of his feet quiet embarrassed. "Well, Piggy," Susie could not help but giggle, much to Piggy's dismay, "Can you please help me wash up the lil'uns' faces? They look positively dreadful."

The low sound sounded again, and heads turned up to look at the source; three boys standing on the platform. The fairest of the three blew into the shell again, and again the low sound emerged and echoed through the island. Children who had been wondering off ran back to sit or stand in front of the platform. A few, who had not seen Susie earlier, stared, seemingly confused that a girl was there. But Susie was smiling brightly, and they worried themselves about it no more.

A throat cleared, the fair boy spoke; "Well then."

He ran his hand through his hair. "We're on an island. We've been on the mountain top and seen water all round. We saw no houses, no smoke, no footprints, no boats, no people. We're on an uninhabited island with no other people on it."

The red-haired boy beside him spoke up, "All the same, you need an army…for hunting. Hunting pigs…"

"Yes. There are pigs on the island."

The three boys then relayed a broken version of their encounter with a piglet. Susie breathed a sigh of relief that the piglet had not been harmed. How cruel, harming a baby animal!

"But next time, I…"

The red-haired boy slammed a knife into a tree, glaring at the children around him. Susie frowned, _how arrogant, slamming knives into things_! _If he did that at the dinner table, what would his mother say? What improper etiquette! Terrible, absolutely terrible_! But since he did not kill the piglet, perhaps he was a little nice, so she would not scold him… this time, at least.

They discussed rules about raising hands, keeping a fire going, and the shell…conch, Susie corrected herself. The three boys, "Ralph, Jack, and Simon," Piggy had whispered, described the island. How lovely the blue flowers sounded! Then everyone hushed, and the lil'uns pushed a small child in front of them.

"All right," Ralph said, "come on then."

The small boy looked around, panicking.

"Speak up!"

The small boy held out his hands for the conch and the assembly shouted with laughter; at once he snatched back his hands and started to cry.

"Let him have the conch!"Piggy shouted, "Let him have it!"

At last Ralph induced him to hold the shell, but by then the blow of laughter had taken away the child's voice. Piggy knelt by him, one hand on the great shell, listening and interpreting to the assembly.

"He wants to know what you're going to do about the snake-thing."

Ralph laughed, and the other boys laughed with him. The small boy twisted further into himself.

"Tell us about the snake-thing."

"Now he says it was a beastie."

"Beastie?"

"A snake-thing. Ever so big. He saw it."

"Where?"

"In the woods."

Everyone was quiet. Susie's eyes became big and round. There, she knew It, knew that a beastie was there. There had to be, after all, with such horrid mud lying about. But the child was shaking and frightened, like Susie herself after one of her most frightening nightmares. Now was a time to be a mother, not another frightened child. Guided by her own mother's example, Susie stood and walked to the boy, draping her arms about him.

"Shh, it's okay now; it's going to be all right. Perk up, okay?"

At the familiar gesture, and comforting words, the boy clutched his arms tightly around Susie and began to cry into her chest. The front of her under dress was getting soaked with tears, mud, and sticky fruit juice, but even her most concrete habits faded in that moment. Almost instinctively, she found herself whispering her words over and over again, and stroking the tangled hair on the boy's head. The rest of the assembly, having seemingly forgotten her existence, all looked shocked that she'd help the child. _Well, of course she should help! You don't just stare at a kid who's about to burst into tears! Ugh, the idiocy of the opposite gender._

Jack scrunched up his nose at her, "When'd a girl get here?"

"She's the only one of the girls who…"

"I don't care!" Jack shouted, interrupting Piggy and earning another burst of tears from the child in Susie's arms. Susie continued to calm the boy, but sent an icy glare at Jack nonetheless. Ralph made an attempt at making peace,

"Jack…"

"And why is everyone letting her coddle the lil'un!? He's just going off, giving everyone the creeps, over what? A big snake from a bad dream that doesn't exist!?"

"Jack. _Calm down_."

Jack silenced at the commanding tone of voice, face as red as his hair out of shame, yet glaring at Ralph as if he was the one at fault.

"There isn't a beastie, we all know that. So what's so wrong about calming a frightened child? Jack, you need to calm down." Ralph reached over to pat Jack supportingly on the back, but Jack's back stiffened at his touch, and Ralph drew back his hand.

Susie's motherly actions seemed to ease the tension in most, but caused more tension in Jack, who sulked and glared from the corner even after the meeting ended, and everyone was happily headed to sleep. Many of the lil'uns found comfort from any remaining fear near Susie. They, curled around her and fell asleep peacefully, and Susie, warmed by the lil'uns around, fell to sleep warm and happy.

In the morning, butterflies danced around them happily.

**(A few days later, during chapter 8…)**

It wasn't much of a surprise when Jack left. Although through her days as a "mother" her view of boys had changed ridiculously, hugely. Jack managed to prove all her old thoughts about boys right, and then some. Anyone could feel his anger and hatred from a mile away. His icy glares at Susie, the lil'uns, and even Ralph, whenever his back was turned, made this evident. Jack was just as Ralph stated before Jack stormed off and left.

"_You're a coward, Jack."_

Ralph's words and the look on Jack's face as he realized their truth, were cemented into Susie's mind. However, the look of realization turned into a look of anger at this truth, and that fierce, animalistic hatred that flared across his face haunted her thoughts. Just thinking about that face again sent shivers up and down her spine, and caused a feeling of dread to wash over her. One of the lil'uns surrounding her, Percy, tugged on her hand, looking worried. That was right. She should not show such a face in front of the kids. She smiled brightly, and leaned down to hug Percy before turning to the rest.

"I'm going to go clear my head, now you boys stay and be good, understand? I'll just be gone for a bit now, so go have some fun1"

She stood, and turned to walk away, most of the lil'uns ran off, happy for the opportunity to play unsupervised. All but little Percy, who wouldn't let go of her hand and was starting to cry.

"Now now, what's wrong, dear?"

Percy burst into tears, grabbing her leg and hugging it tightly. Her white under dress, due to constant washing, had retained it's softness, but was well worn and stained all over. It was no longer the pure white it once was. Percy sobbed into a corner of it now, trying to find comfort in its softness.

"I've had this feeling all day," he sobbed, quiet voice weakened by his shyness and his now runny nose, and muffled further by the cloth of her under dress, "That you'll fly away too high to reach, and I'll never see ya again, like a butterfly."

"Nonsense," Susie said, smiling warmly, "I'm right here, and I don't plan on leaving you kids, ever. I'm just taking a walk is all. I'll be back, see? So don't cry, smile, okay?"

Percy nodded, and reluctantly let go. He walked away slowly, and looked over his shoulder every few steps to make sure she wasn't gone.

"Go on now!" Susie laughed, "I'll bring you back a flower!"

Percy perked up at the promise of a gift, and ran to join his friends in play. Susie watched him until he was out of sight, then turned back towards the forest and walked into its depths. She was unable to fully conceal her growing feeling of dread from herself.

_ Jack and his followers, wearing their painted masks, hid in the trees. __Under the trees an ear flapped idly. A little apart from the rest, sunk in deep maternal bliss, lay the largest sow of the lot. She was black and pink; and her belly was fringed with a row of piglets that slept or burrowed and squeaked. Her back facing the forest, almost as if to protect her children from a darkness that dwelled there. Fifteen yards from the drove Jack stopped, and his arm, straightening, pointed at the sow. He looked round in inquiry to make sure that everyone_

_understood and the other boys nodded at him. The row of right arms slid back._

"_Now!"_

Susie heard the shrieks echoing through the entire island, frightened, in pain, and full of fear, and close, oh so dreadfully close. She ran deeper into the dark shadows of the forest, significantly stronger and faster then when she first ran on this island. However, her run came to a halt when she spotted the cause of the noise;

Jack and his hunters surrounded a sow, whose full teats showed it was a mother. Susie covered her mouth, smothering a scream as she watched this mother stabbed again and again with sticks. The dread that had been on the edge of fading washed over her, pungent, and fresh. Before long, Susie was too terrified to move.

_ The afternoon wore on, hazy and dreadful with damp heat; the sow staggered her way ahead of them, bleeding and mad, and the hunters followed, wedded to her in lust, excited by the long chase and the dropped blood. They could see her now, nearly got up with her, but she spurted with her last strength and held ahead of them again. They were just behind her when she staggered into an open space where bright flowers grew and butterflies danced round each other and the air was hot and still. _

_ Here, struck down by the heat, the sow fell and the hunters hurled themselves at her. This dreadful eruption from an unknown world made her frantic; she squealed and bucked and the air was full of sweat and noise and blood and terror. Roger ran round the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pig flesh appeared. Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her. The butterflies still danced, preoccupied in the center of the clearing._

Susie grabbed a flower from the edge of the clearing, then ran. She was full of fear, adrenaline, and the overwhelming sense of dread that flooded over her even darker then the shadows of the tree. Butterflies, blood, and the writhing mass of boys danced through her mind. The images made even for frightening by the horrid realization that with their red and black paint, the boys had resembled a giant, ghastly spider devouring a bloody pink butterfly.

Susie ran until she was out of the woods and on the beach. She tripped on a stone, and planted her face in the sand. After sitting up, she laughed loudly, relieved that the boys had not pursued her, as they had the sow.

The rest of the day she spent happily, convincing herself that Percy's words, her feeling of dread, and the killing the mother pig were all a coincidence. She had given Percy his flower, and received a large hug in return. She spent the rest of the day laughing, smiling, and playing with the lil'uns until night fell, and they all collapsed in a worn out heap, asleep in the sand.

Once again, Jack and his followers, wearing their painted masks, hid in the trees. Under the trees, a white cloth flapped idly on the breeze, resembling the wings of a butterfly. A little apart from the rest, sunk in her maternal bliss, lay their new prey. She was all white and pink, with tangled copper hair, and she was fringed with a row of babes that slept or burrowed and snored around her. Her back facing the forest, almost as if to protect her children from a darkness that very much dwelled there. Fifteen yards from the drove Jack stopped, and his arm, straightening, pointed at their prey. He looked round in inquiry to make sure that everyone understood and the other boys nodded at him. The row of right arms slid back.

"Now!"

Once again, shrieks could be heard echoing throughout the entire island, frightened, in pain, and full of fear, and close, oh so dreadfully close, but these were hardly the shrieks of a pig.

Jack laughed quietly, as not to wake the lil'uns who would definitely blow his cover. He turned to his hunters whispering; "How come killing a girl and killing a pig are so similar?"

_Somewhere, high in the trees, a little white butterfly got caught in a spider's net. As the big black spider devoured it's body, the butterfly's white wings that had been torn off fluttered down to the beach, landing in the sticky redness that covered the sand, just as the lil'uns awoke and screamed at the site of their own bloody butterfly. She had flown far out of their reach, where they would never see her again._


End file.
